“Most
Americans want some restrictions on abortion,” Ms. Monahan said. “We see
abortion as the human rights abuse of today.”

Speaker
John A. Boehner of Ohio, who spoke via a recorded video, called on the
protest group, particularly the young people, to make abortion “a relic
of the past.”

“Human
life is not an economic or political commodity, and no government on
earth has the right to treat it that way,” he said.

The
crowd was dotted with large banners, many bearing the names of the
attendees’ home states and churches and colleges. Gary Storey, 36, stood
holding a handmade sign that read “I was adopted. Thanks Mom for my
life.” Next to him stood his adoptive mother, Ellen Storey, 66, who held
her own handmade sign with a picture of her six children and the words
“To the mothers of our four adopted children, ‘Thank You’ for their
lives.”

Mr. Storey said he was grateful for the decision by his biological mother to carry through with her pregnancy. “Beats the alternative,” he joked.